Virtual, as opposed to False
by SpeaksInRiddles
Summary: Some people get all the bad luck, Cassai Logia can attest to that. Being stuck in a virtual Deathgame is relatively tame when compared to the fact that only 7 months ago she was actually living in a post-post-apocalyptic world, before that timeline was ripped apart by the actions of one man. Meh, at least it's a lot more familiar than whatever passes itself as 'reality'.
1. Prologue - Re:Set

**AN**: This is one of the stories I still had in storage. It was originally spurred by the 'what if' that was 'What if someone who had actually lived a live that actually resembles one or multiple of the virtual worlds more than what is perceived 'reality' is forced into the deathgame?'

I was doubting whether to upload this or not, seeing how it's mainly an X-over with a relatively unknown rp, [it's not the sole cross-over, but it's the most prominent] but then I went: 'Ah well, lets just mark her down as an OC [I got permission from her co-owner], throw in some flashbacks for the uninformed masses and be done with it'

The only thing that still worries me is that she's overpowered in comparison to most other characters. She isn't on the Sue scale -God, I hope she's not-, but considering how she'd actually been fighting monsters with swords for the majority of the life she remembers she is currently miles ahead of most. 'Real-life' experience might not translate into actual experience points, but unless the level gap is ridiculously high (Point in case: Kirito vs the orange guild attacking Sylica and him), it does actually help a lot.

I planned to make this somewhat slow-building [well, slower-building that my usual stories at least, since I can't actually write slow]. SAO probably won't come in until chapter 2 or 3, with a brief mention of it in chapter 1. Ah well, it's time to stop my rambling and get on with this.

* * *

**Disclaimer**: All things recognizable belong to their respective owners. Not that the Logia-verse is copyrighted, but meh... That part is very, very likely to go unrecognized anyway since only seven people ever participated in that rp.

* * *

Why?

Lying on her bed, practically strangling her pillow, this was -once again- the main question on Cassai's mind. To her it had been months since the timeline shifted, but she still was not closer to finding a satisfactorily answer. Why did Noir break the most sacred of rules? Why did he choose to erase it all?

_Well_, she thought grimly, choking back another sob, _worded like that the reason was_ _clear, __had it not prevented the war?__ but still how could he let go of everything, just like that?_

The world had already been at peace though. Through blood, sweat and tears the wars had been won. Certainly, much had been sacrificed, but they had been victorious. A new dawn had come, and everything was being rebuild. Why did he spit on all those who had given their all to get to this end? Desecrated their memory?

Oh, sure. There was peace now. The war had never happened, the Others having been killed before they could implement their 'dastardly' plans and bring mankind to it's knees. The world was prospering, it was untouched, albeit not very idyllic. Crime had far from ceased to be, although there was little to no oppression, struggle to survive or cullings.

A perfect world?

To her, never.

Noir had done what the Others had never accomplished. He had killed them all. Utterly destroyed all traces of what they had been in his efforts to rewrite history. The only reason she still lived to remember was because of the Aeon blood she had inherited from her father. She may not have been a completely timeless being like one of the pure ones, but she was a fixed point. Her birth had been a fact since the beginning of time and history had literally bend and twisted so that her existence would come to be.

The others though, her brothers and sisters in arms who she had thought of as her kin in all but blood? Not so much. This significant a shift in the timeline, affecting whether trillions lived or died or not, one that dated back over 500 years at that would make their birth a statistic impossibility.

More than half a millennium. Maybe that was part of the problem. To them it had been their present, their world, but would it, to Noir, have been nothing more than a terrible future to prevent perhaps? Had he still thought of their past as his present? Little wonder that he had thought little of erasing it.

She could certainly empathize, albeit only to a certain degree. This may be her reality now, but it certainly wasn't her world, nor was this was not her life. She may have received the memories of this life affected by the shift, but the person she had become, the person the war had forged her into, it was who she was. In the end that 'False Universe' was still her reality, and like him, she would have done everything to get her world back.

Ironically, this degree of empathy was limited by that very same fact. After all, his actions, in ensuring the peace and stability of what he likely had still thought of as his world had destroyed hers. And for that she could never again forgive him.

The woman who had, once upon a lifetime, been Cassai Logia, hugged her pillow -if possible- even tighter. The fight against her tears already lost. On a small screen in her darkened room the date flashed.

_December 18th, 2021_

Today would, after all, have been the day she and Tristan had planned to marry.

_Yet she would never see him again. _

_Never hear his voice call out her name_

_Never feel his arms around her_

Hardass commander she might have been, but that had never made her heartless, no matter how callous some of the decisions she had been forced to make had been. It was hard to move on when everything she cared for was gone. All but her mother anyway, for all that that said anything.

At one time she would have given everything to see her again, but while this woman was certainly nice, this was not the person that had raised her. She was not the woman that had taken time to play with her, despite her cynical, jaded nature. She was not the woman that had taught her to survive in the face of overwhelming odds, and she was not the woman that had sacrificed her life, so that Cassai might, _might_ have a chance to escape.

The woman loved her, and Cassai loved her back, despite this discrepancy , but she could not confide in her. This version of her mother knew nothing of war, or even Aeons, despite having conceived a child with one. She would most likely not believe her, and on the off-chance the pragmatic did, she could still not understand. She might grasp the loss of everyone her daughter had cared for, if not the depth of it, but little more than that.

It was after all not only the people she had lost, but her entire way of life. Just as her mother would not understand how Cassai could live with having killed, Cassai could never understand why humans in this day and age turned on each other for the flimsiest of reasons. Why bully, when it did nothing but cause hurt and resentment? Why steal, when you are not in need? Why murder, unless in defense of yourself and your loved ones?

Whereas the society that Cassai still regarded as hers had had the discipline to hold themselves to the unspoken rules that were common sense and decency, this world seemed to be the complete opposite. It was bogged up in laws, yet its people seemingly without moral. They were weak, both physically and mentally, following their impulses even if it harmed others. and only very rarely, if ever at all taking responsibility for their actions.

* * *

_Looking back that was probably the crux of things. The one reason I could not understand Noire's choice. _

_The war might never have kicked off, but humanity was off all the worse for it. _

_Certainly, this corrupt, divided, complacent mockery of mankind could not have been worth the price that was paid?_

_- excerpt from the diary of Cassandra 'Cassai' Simmons, May 21st, 2022_

* * *

**AN2:** To clear up some confusion: When she speaks of a 'False Universe', it doesn't actually mean a 'Fake' one, or even a 'Virtual World'. In this case it refers to the temporal phenomenon that is caused when someone travels back in time -In their own timeline's timeline, not an alternate one- and rewrites history. The 'original' history technically never happened outside of the loop created, and is therefore named 'false' by the temporal theorists. Or something like that...

To use a Doctor Who-ism: [Which I'm sure I got at least somewhat wrong] It's all timey-wimey and wibbly-wobbly, and on par with the year-that-never-was, albeit it being closer to 565 years than that one, and being more of the result of destroying several fixed points in time as opposed to foiling the plans of a mad Time Lord with a Paradox Machine.


	2. Chapter 1: Of Mo(u)rnings After

**Disclaimer:** This humble authoress must humbly admit that this humble authoress humbly doesn't own anything recognizable.  
_-Humble enough for you Era? ;)-_

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The following morning Cassai had to admit she had broken down. Badly. Normally she'd deny it, even to herself, _no_, especially to herself, because _damnitall_, she wasn't a crybaby, but mirrors -when without enchantment- never lied, and it was impossible to ignore the fact that her eyes were so puffy they were practically swollen shut.

That would not do.

The Planet's ambient mana might have been rather thin, now that the Aeon hadn't decided to forestall Her slumber to help combat the Others, but it was still present, and Cassai's own naturally boosted connection on top of actually having the experience of drawing on it and shaping it to her will would allow her to still cast a few spells. Something like_ Inferno_ would definitely be out of even her reach, lest she'd start draining the life around her by accident when the surrounding magic ran out, but a minor healing spell would be well within her abilities.

The demi-Aeon might have not been as vain as some, but Chronos Himself be damned if she had to deal with the questions that came from walking around with a face like that.

Once finished she took note of the time.

_Oh crap_

She was running late.

Cassai quickly finished dressing herself, and after taking another minute to pull her now long brown hair back in a ponytail, check her bag, grab a few apples from the kitchen and yell a hurried 'see you later' down the hall that led to her mother's study. She had mixed feelings about still living at home at her age, but seeing how the house was huge, this version of her mother was as scatterbrained as they came, and it was only a twenty minute drive to the University where she had first studied, and later gotten a job, she didn't really see the use in moving out.

She jogged outside, making sure she kept the tempo up. The bus stop might only have been ten minutes away when walking at a normal pace, but she only had four, and professor Wilson, her former university teacher, and now parttime employer, definitely wouldn't be amused if she was late, AGAIN.

She could hardly blame the man, after all Cassai had been late far too often these past four months, but in her admittedly meager defense: Swapping timelines to a world that was so vastly different from her own it was borderline ridiculous didn't help any. She'd been disoriented, the memories of this life didn't begin to integrate for days -still haven't fully for that matter-, and even when they did sufficiently, she still got lost all the time, because in comparison to her 'original' set, they were still so incredibly distant.

She had needed to relearn most of the material, because most of the memories from it had gotten jumbled up or had outright faded. Cassai had gone from being one of his former top students to barely scraping by in the span of a week, and while her performance had improved again, -as she sacrificed precious hours of sleep to catch up-, she hadn't been quite on the level she had been yet when she finished her studies.

And Gods, don't get her started on her physical progress, priorities had to be made though.., and she had wanted to get back on her feet before claims of things like amnesia were made. While technically correct, that diagnosis would open a can of worms better left closed. Her mother, worried like hell, would send her to hospital, getting her brains checked, and when those tests would show their were no abnormalities -hopefully, she never had the time, money or general opportunity to test whether she differed in that aspect or not-. That would leave the diagnosis of self-induced repression, and while that was remarkably accurate in yet another way she didn't go through anything 'plausibly' traumatic she could 'remember' to get them of of her back.

After all, the merging of two aspects of _S_oul was the cause for her current predicament, and seeing how in this purely science driven community the soul was widely regarded as nothing more than a myth, and everything was supposedly 'neuro-chemical' and all that rot, she could hardly point that little fact out, without actually having her head checked again, except for delusions instead of trauma.

Barbarians, the lot of them.

They were the barbarians she was stuck with or the rest of her natural life though, barring another time shift and seeing how that was far harder to achieve with technology than it was with magic that was highly unlikely. Even for all her grousing about how horrid this timeline was, and the longing she felt for the world she still called home within the confines of her mind, she wouldn't consciously choose to cause one herself. In this magically weak environment even just opening, let alone sustaining the portal long enough, would take tens of thousand of lives to power the spell, never mind the billions she'd erase.

Sometimes Cassai wasn't sure whether she liked or hated having a conscience, things would be so much easier without one.

* * *

She made it to the bus in time, if only barely. Paying the fare she immerged herself in her mind. slowly pushing everything that made her Cassai to the background, allowing for more and more of Cassandra to shine through. She remained in this state until the vehicle had reached her stop. Though not entirely finished yet, she decided that it would have to make do. Making her way to the right wing's fourth floor she entered the second door on the left side of the hall. Hank's office. Having caught the bus after all she still had ten minutes to spare, but those ten minutes would be sorely needed to get the handouts to the lecture hall in time. It would be good to be early for once, instead of the near-perpetual late that had unfortunately become her norm.

When she arrived there, paper and all, about half of the students were already seated, none of which Cassandra knew in particular. Well, that was until someone bumped into her on her way put. Luckily she had already put the stack of papers down at the point, because being forced to pick them up would have made a crappy continuation to a day that already started badly.

The teen she had bumped into -William Rockwell- was a singularly strange being, even to her, and she was the woman who was 1/3 his best friend of 14 years and 2/3 ass-kicking magical warrior from another far more fantastical timeline who'd had to deal with strange creatures and stranger coping mechanisms exhibited by the people under her command.

She was not talking about his medical condition, which was some hormonal mumbo jumbo that for the most part could basically be summarized into: 'Never went into puberty', and which unfortunately made him, when combined with his otherwise healthy lifestyle, a pretty boy.

Because really, she was used to dealing with those, And while it did unnerve her a bit that he would look better in a dress than most women -a sentiment she felt about all males that looked great in drag-, most of them didn't have nearly as good a reason for the most part, the exceptions being those whose species practically ensured those looks.

Speaking of which, with his short stature, blue eyes and blonde hairstyle that ironically enough practically screamed pixy cut, she could even see the possible relation with them. Maybe he actually had some Fae blood, however diluted, running through his veins? It would explain his seemingly contradicting, bipolar nature that was the true source of her near constant headache. The Fair Folk were creatures of whim after all.

She would never ask him if he actually _had_ pixie-blood in him though. He was rather sensitive about his looks, and would probably take it as teasing instead of honest speculation, which was understandable, seeing the near-complete absence of the supernatural in this timeline.

Surprisingly enough, Cassai liked him well enough, as opposed to all the other flubby humans in this timeline. Not that he wasn't too, but she wouldn't exactly call him weak. If she had to put it into words, she'd say he exuded a strange type of innocence. It wasn't lack of knowledge or naivety as much as it was purity of intent and heart. He wasn't a saint, far from it, and she would laugh hysterically in the face of whoever claimed the at times whiny gaming-addict to be otherwise, but at the same time he had both some kind of primal strength to his soul, as well as being was mostly untouched by the Greater Sins.

The 19-year-old might never make her list of 'potential lovers', seeing how the boy that was four year younger than her had only recently grown out of the 'little brother' category, but he did make a good best friend, who was almost effortlessly able to draw her along. She wasn't blind enough not to notice the 'small' crush he had on her, especially since it was blatantly obvious he only took this minor in philosophy to spend time with her, but that'd probably never happen. He wasn't her type, and he sure as hell wasn't Tristan.

Cassai nearly flinched, unwilling to continue that that train of thought. Rather she started thinking about Kelly Rhôdes, who was sitting roughly 6 meters away and had an equally not so secret crush on the blond in front of her. She may not be one for matchmaking but the idea of her friend getting together with the shy brunette was kind of cute. She startled. _No, no! Bad Cassai, that's almost worse. Bad thoughts! BAD thoughts!._ She didn't do cute. Sure, it beat getting depressed about Tristan, but still: Cute? Not even the part that was Cassandra stooped that low.

"Good morning Will", she said, attempting to sound cheerful. As expected, it didn't fool her friend one bit, if the raised eyebrow and the inflections that were best approximated by "Good? Morning Cass..." were anything to go by. She rolled her eyes, "Last night kinda sucked", she elaborated. It wasn't much, but the lecture was beginning, so she had a good excuse for her silence, on top of naturally being rather reluctant to talk about it.

Will probably would believe her if she told him why -and demonstrate some magic to prove it-, but he was nerdy in the way that he would think it awesome, only considering the ramifications second, before being either hostile and/or uncertain for weeks, until he ultimately dismissed those consequences as more or less unimportant because despite everything she was still his 'best friend', albeit a different version of her.

Probably...

For once being uncertain about her course of action, she did not dare make that gamble. She was fully willing to admit -albeit solely to herself _and _within the confines of her mind- that he was her lifeline, and she'd be devastated if he were to reject her. She felt like a bitch for keeping this a secret, but she'd feel even worse if...

* * *

After they were done for the day, that is, when classes were over for Will, and she had finished all her errands, the two of them happily left the building. Well, William happily left the building, while Cassai was merely feeling neutral, but seeing how the demi-Aeon had been in a perpetually bad mood for the past few months saying she felt happy in comparison wasn't that much of an exaggeration.

They were chatting about their plans for next year, when Will finished his studies. While it was true Cassai didn't really care about his game obsession that much, the fact that he had snagged airplane tickets to Japan, rooms and two places in that new VR-game was impressive. She'd fund all of it, during their stay there -She put down her foot about that. She and her mother were filthy rich, as opposed to Will who somehow managed to get by on his minimum wage-, but all of this was his brainchild, and the fact that he'd managed to arrange it at all in the short time, and with the limited amount of places that had been available was pretty damn awesome.

She grinned despite everything, her hand unconsciously twitching towards her hip, where her blade had been in the last 9 years before the shift. Merciful Gaia, What she wouldn't give to hold a sword again, her heart pumping, while the adrenaline rushed through her veins. She might possibly even have waxed on about the feel of her blade carving through the flesh of her enemy, but while Cassai had been desensitized enough to the gorier aspects of combat to potentially pull that off, she had, despite the complications, become Cassandra enough to feel more than a little squicked out about voicing that last part.

Still, it was the sentiment behind it that mattered...

'Soon my precioussss', she thought, mentally cackling, 'Soooon...

* * *

_It seems I will forever be an exception in everything. Ickle little Cassy, Not quite Aeon and not quite human. Not quite outside the timeline, but not quite part of it either._

_Not quite Cassai Logia and not quite Cassandra Simmons._

_I have even failed to properly merge with my other half. Everything I was taught states that, were a merge to occur, the halves would be equal, making me as much my other half, as I was Cassai. As can be attested to by that very sentence, that is not the case. If I were to hazard a guess I'd say this discrepancy is because well, I have more experience. In life, in conflict, with the supernatural, and -excuse my french- literal mindfucks, as opposed to Cassandra, whose life was dull, her magic laid dormant, and technology was only just getting to the level that they could begin to realistically simulate such effects. As a result I, who was more or less prepared for it, completely overwhelmed her during the merge, and now dominate our new mind, unintentionally pushing my other half to the background unless I actively withdraw myself._

_I've been working on meditation to facilitate a proper merging anyway. As it is, I cannot keep living like this. Surviving, always, but living... No... THIS is my world now, and being unable to accept that will only lead to tragedy. I need more of Cassandra. Last night was already a close call. Well, not that close, even my Aeon instincts know the difference between a good old cryfest and a fullout crash past the Despair Even Horizon, but I shouldn't take the chance these feelings will fester, and take a life of their own. I've already stated that I wouldn't consciously make the decision to initiate a timeshift. To me that promise includes making sure the chance that I would unconsciously do so is as low as I can possibly get it._

_- excerpt from the diary of Cassandra 'Cassai' Simmons, December 19th, 2021 _

* * *

**AN:** And here's a look at a Cassai that wallowing slightly less in self-pity. Well, not as much anyway. This chapter also shows more aspects of the half-that-is-Cassandra, albeit not that much either, which is a pity really. While not as strongly defined as Cassai, the mildly protective, perfectionist girl that has been -despite her best efforts-, semi-corrupted into nerdhood by her geeky best friend would have been an interesting person to know, if not a slightly boring person to read or write about.

But seeing how the main character aspect, despite her efforts to fully merge with Cassandra, will be almost fully Cassai until a certain milestone is reached, which will probably only happen at least halfway through the ALO- arc -possibly longer-. In other words: It's still rather far off.


End file.
